Report: Most Americans Have No Real Choice in Internet Providers
This report investigates broadband competition in communities across the country.… Read More
From Ames to Waterloo: An Update on Community Broadband in Iowa
Iowa is home to many community networks, from co-ops to muni cable, fiber, and other technologies. Three communities in the state have just recently made important announcements about their plans, and several others are moving forward with networks.… Read More
Spelling Out Our Vision at the Community Broadband Networks Initiative
After many years working to promote community networks, we here at Community Broadband Networks want to lay out our broader vision of a better connected country. We hope this vision pulls together all we’ve done and continue to do, and provides a framework for understanding our worldview.… Read More
Idaho’s Proposed Broadband Grant Cares More About Protecting Monopolies Than Expanding High-Quality Connectivity
As states are considering whether and how to use federal CARES Act funding to improve Internet access, Idaho is poised to enact counter-productive limits on who can use that money by excluding community-owned solutions. Though many states have been under pressure from big monopoly providers to only fund for-profit business models with broadband subsidies, those voices seem largely absent in this Idaho fight. Instead, it is some local monopoly providers that are threatened by a wave of new community networks that break the old monopoly approach to broadband networks.… Read More
A Major Telecom Monopoly Fails America
Last week, Frontier Communications told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that there are 17,000 census blocks in which it is now offering 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload. … Read More
How Will Broadband Networks Handle Quarantine Congestion?
As schools and businesses ask people to stay home to reduce the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus, how will broadband networks handle increased demand of Internet access.… Read More
Updated Report Shows How Cooperatives Are Bridging the Digital Divide
Decades after bringing electricity and telephone services to America’s rural households, cooperatives are tackling a new challenge: the rural digital divide. … Read More
A Public Housing Digital Inclusion Blueprint
Our new report details a model developed by Monkeybrains, a local ISP, and the city of San Francisco that successfully bridges the digital divide for public housing residents. … Read More
Christopher Mitchell Reviews “Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution — And Why America Might Miss It” by Susan Crawford
Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband initiative at ILSR, reviews Susan Crawford’s new book “Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution — And Why America Might Miss It.” The book revolves around several communities that will be familiar to anyone following community networks, but even people with only a casual interest in how to achieve the best Internet access will recognize some of the community names in Susan’s latest book.… Read More
